A King without His Crown
by Hahaheeha
Summary: The Kyuubi Incident is properly contained and the secret of Naruto is kept with the Hokage. He is then adopted by one of the more prestigous clans of the village. How will he turn out? Talented Naruto, not overpowered though. AU. First fanfiction
1. Chapter 1

**A King without His Crown**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto in anyway…. Though it may shock my friends that I don't

**2****nd**** Disclaimer: **This is my first fan fiction in general, so constructive criticism and suggestions are welcome. Will **NOT **follow canon, if that's what you wanted just watch the show.

**Prologue: **A Request for Compassion

"Enter," Hiruzen Sarutobi called to the people on the other side of the oaken doors of the Hokage's office. He had summoned them as soon as he had returned from the funeral ceremony. The entire village had attended and could not be held on top of the Hokage's building as was custom, there had simply been too many people. Hiruzen had not seen such a gathering of grief-stricken people, himself included, since the death of his former mentors and the founders of Konoha. The loss was pervading, and he himself had lost his wife not to mention the two of the brightest minds Konoha had ever seen. And now here he was back in this forsaken office filling the role he had passed on not 15 months ago.

The doors opened and two confused looking adults in full jonin guard entered. "Hokage-sama," the both of them gave the honorific greeting that was customary as well a low bow. Neither of them were strangers to summons to the Hokage's office however the timing of this request was making them wonder what was needed of them in this time of grief, both of them were on extended leave for the birth of their son. "Hello Mikoto, Fugaku," Hiruzen smiled sadly at both of them, "How is young Sasuke?" The Third smiled honored that the Prominent Uchiha family had used his father as a name sake. "Well, Itachi is at home with him," Mikoto replied confusion still clouding her usually perceptive eyes, "That is not why you requested our audience though, is it?" Fugaku sat next to her silently an almost empty look in his eyes, the old Sarutobi sighed inwardly, he knew how close that Fugaku and Minato were. The two of them had been teamates since the academy under Jiraiya and had remained exceptionally close even after they had split.

"No it is not," Hiruzen replied, "I wish for you to take a ward, it will be good for young Sasuke to have a brother so close to his age and I fear that only you two will be able to raise this child properly."

The silence was palpable, of everything they had been expecting THIS was not it. Pulled out of his reverie Fugaku regarded the aged Shinobi in front of him, "Who is the child?" the Clan head inquired. "Uzumaki Naruto," Hiruzen replied solemnly. The two Uchiha's eyes snapped to the Hokage with an almost audible crack. They both recognized the surname being of their good friend, but it was Fugaku that put it together first. Only one person would have named their son after the protagonist of Jiraiya-sensei's first novel. The implications were mind blowing. Both of them had been completely in the dark about this, sure Kushina had been very reclusive and neither of them had seen her in the past few months, but they just expected that she was investigating the recent destruction of her hometown Uzushiogakure. Fugaku was sputtering, "Of course we will take the boy!"

Hiruzen nodded smiling lightly. He was happy that the couple had accepted, raising two young boys was by no means an easy task. "There are some…. Details you should be made aware of however," He muttered darkly. The old ninja sighed at the burden that he knew was already thrust upon the young Naruto, and the he himself was about to lay on the Uchiha couple. Steeling himself for what was about to be discussed, "Minato did not kill the Kyuubi." Mikoto flinched, however what shocked Hiruzen was Fugaku's nod. The Uchiha man accepted this and simply waited for the Hokage to continue. Pausing and regarding the middle-aged Uchiha man, he wondered just how much Fuuinjutsu Jiraiya had taught him or if he had picked up a few S-class secrets from his life-long friend. Looking more at Mikoto he continued, " He sealed the beast, inside his own son to save the village."

Mikoto and Fugaku looked at him incredulously, even with the preconceptions that Fugaku had neither of him expected to be raising Minato and Kushina's child and even less so expecting that child to be the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki. That was when they understood why they were chosen. Only the closest friends of the Namikazes would be able to raise their son and look past the fact of the Kyuubi inside the child. Fugaku knew that the monster would affect the child but had more than enough faith in Minato's sealing ability. He knew his family would be safe but recognized that no one else was a acquainted with the Yellow Flash's full skill-set well enough to be wise of that fact aside from himself.

"That being said, this information is STRICTLY classified even from the rest of your family. The boy will be informed of his past and parentage when he is ready." The Third was relieved that the two in front of him accepted the facts calmly but knew that if the dark secret he just divulged to them ever got out that not everyone in the village would be as accepting of the boy. "The story as of now is he is an orphan from Uzushio with unknown parentage. With the treaties and the recent disaster that story will hold up," explained Hiruzen, then with a genuine smile on his face, "Would you like to see the boy?"

~~~~~~Kohoha Hospital, Nursery

The trio of Ninja looked down at the blond and blue eyed newborn. Mikoto picked the boy up gingerly, love already forming for young child in her eyes. "He is going to look exactly like Minato," Fugaku chuckled as taken with the child as his wife. "The paperwork is already filled out, for some reason I had a feeling that my choice of guardians was right," The Third smiled at them, happy that joy could be found on this dark day, "You can take him home today." Mikoto still enthralled with the young boy merely nodded, it was Fugaku that reached out and put a hand on the elderly Hokage's shoulder, "Thank you," he said. Hiruzen simply nodded in reply, it was all that was needed and he understood the Uchiha completely. Fugaku turned and followed his wife out the door with the Hokage behind him. Hiruzen watched and waved at the two as they strode towards the Uchiha compound before turning to return to his office.

~~~~~~~~Hokage's Office

Hiruzen Sarutobi entered the room and if he was surprised to see his old student, the white haired spymaster, He wasn't surprised. "I'm sure you are here wondering why I didn't leave the boy in your care," he said simply. "No," his student replied heftily, "I just wonder if leaving him with the Uchiha's is the best idea." "You know as well as I how close those two families were," the elder of the two stated calmly, "I couldn't just leave him on the street, and no one else would be able to see past the Kyuubi." "And what about me?" Jiraiya inquired somewhat insolently, "I am his god-father after all." "The boy needs a proper family growing up and you know that you can't provide that. Unless you and Tsundae-chan have shacked up with out me knowing," Hiruzen chided, teasing his favorite student, his tone serious again, "I made the best choice in my mind." "We both know that the best choice at the time isn't always the right one," Jiraiya replied before slipping out the window.

/END/

**There it is! My first fanfic is finally started! I'm pretty excited and I hope it does well. A few things to explain about the story now is 1. To clear up why Mikoto and Fugaku didn't know about Naruto before hand is simple, he was being heavily targeted by Iwa still and didn't want assassins sent after Kushina to hurt him if people knew she was weakend by pregnancy so he kept it under wraps. 2. I favor LONG chapters so if updates are slow I apologize early for any of my to be fans. 3. This will be a multiple part series. This story will encompass an AU of the original Naruto series. Hopefully I will do a sequel that will be set in the Shippuden time frame and then MAYYYYBE one after to do an Akkipuden re-write. I really hope Masashi Kishimoto does one himself like I have heard rumors of. 4. There will be only the beginning of pairings in this story but they will be there. Keep in mind that at 12 most kids are more oblivious to love and crushes than not. I hate when people write love scenes for a young Naruto. Anyways, review and critique please and I will do my best to get the next installment of this story out ****J**


	2. Chapter 2

**So I definitely got a better response to this story than I initially expected. Thank you to those who commented and favorite and I hope this next chapter will please as much as the first. Enjoy!**

** I appreciate the sentiment, I hope the story continues on a good note.**

** TheRazgrizDragon You are correct about a lot of the things you mentioned however Iruka unfortunately won't have the same relationship as the canon mainly because of the fact that the just aren't as paralleled as the canon. Naruto will have a family who loves him even if it isn't biological. They will have a relationship but it will be a lot closer to that of a mentor and a good student.**

**Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by the very talented Masashi Kishimoto**

**Chapter 1: The Sorting**

It was a chilly morning in Konoha, the winter was fading however and the pink blossoms of the Sakura Tree that Naruto so dearly loved were starting to show. Today was shaping out very well for Naruto as today was the day he was assigned his genin team and his excitement was seeping out of him. He and his brother had worked for this day for 4 years now, from long training days at the academy to their personal lessons Itachi-nii-san. Even Fugaku, as Naruto called him since learning that he was adopted, had taken a large part in their training however this was more for his brother's sake than his own. Naruto simply wasn't able to perform the Uchiha's clan jutsu, though not for lack of trying. Fugaku had explained that it wasn't his fault at all and that the fire nature was probably just as odds with his natural affinity.

"I wonder who's gonna be our sensei," Naruto said exuberantly making conversation with his brother. "We probably won't even be on the same team," Sasuke replied in his usual even tone. "Nehhhhhh?! What makes you say that Sasuke?" Naruto asked not following the young Uchiha's logic. "Well, I'm the first in the class and you're the third," Sasuke answered his blonde companion, still amazed how his brother got the number 3 spot in the first place, he was so dense sometimes, "Itachi told me that they try to split up the talent for more balanced teams." Naruto scowled slightly at being reminded of his loss of the Number 2 spot to the Aburame boy**, **"They can't split us up! Our teamwork is too good!" Sasuke agreed with his brother, their teamwork was impeccable, but he still figured they would be split up.

Looking up at the still gray sky Sasuke sighed as Naruto kept on chattering as he was prone to do when we was curious about something, running through the possible genin he would be teamed with. "As long it's none of your fangirls," Naruto scowled darkly pulling Sasuke's attention to him, "It'll be enough pressure to train and perform on missions without those THINGS attacking me wanting to know who you like the most." "You don't even want to be partnered with Sakura-chan?" Sasuke teased laughing at the soured look that appeared on Naruto's face, "You two would be soooo cute together." Punching his brother on the arm in a friendly manner if not a little harder than usual for the jibe that was directed at him, "As if… I wouldn't know what to do with her, take her out on a date or rent her to Ichiraku's for advertising." This comment almost made the two fall over laughing. Recovering from the fits of laughter, Sasuke regarded his brother, "First one to the Academy wins?" "You're on slowpoke," Naruto replied already in a full sprint down street Sasuke streaking after him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ Konoha Ninja Academy

The boys walked in to the classroom and went to take their seats, Sasuke still panting and cursing his brother's monstrous stamina when the air exploded, "Sasukeeeeee-kuuuun!" squealed a gaggle of girls all fighting to get the spot to him. Sasuke visibly slumped in his seat looking to Naruto to bail him out. When it became apparent that his brother was leaving him to his demise he cursed himself inwardly reminding himself to never make a Sakura joke again as it seemed to result abandonment in his time of need. Naruto just laughed at Sasuke's plight. He was never once jealous of the female attention that Sasuke, that would just be petty and to be honest he would not enjoy the annoyingness and over all creepiness of the stares of Sasuke's fangirls that were now looking at his brother like he was a piece of meat.

"Everyone quiet down!" shouted Iruka Umino, the Chunin sensei of their class as he entered the room, his aide Mizuki in tow. Naruto liked Iruka. He was extremely fair and level headed when it came to dealing with his students, something that couldn't be said of all the teachers in the academy. Mizuki however was a different story, there was just something so cold about his eyes that unnerved Naruto. Iruka looked around the room at all the young ninja a smile on his face now that they he had their attention. Naruto was almost hopping in his seat in anticipation of what was about to happen.

"Alright, now that I have all your attention I think we can proceed. Mizuki, could you hand me the list that Lord Hokage has prepared for us? Mizuki simply pulled a folder out from behind him and gave it to Iruka who stepped up to the teacher's podium at the fore of the classroom. "Now, when I call your name please go with your newly assigned team to the room number that I will specify and wait for your Jonin sensei," Iruka instructed as he started divvying up the genin into their respective teams. It wasn't until Naruto heard the surprise in Iruka's voice that he was pulled out of his thoughts of how awesome his unknown jonin would be. "There must be a mistake," Iruka stated, there was no way the name that was looking him in the face from the paper would take a team. It had been years since this particular jonin had taken a genin team and what a jonin it was. "It seems that Team 3 consisting of Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Kiba Inuzuka will be assigned to Lord Orochimaru. You three should consider yourselves lucky; Lord Orochimaru is one of this village's most foremost ninja and hasn't had a team since the last ninja war." Iruka wondered what would have brought the more than famous ninja back to teaching but put it out of his mind as he continued, "You three will report to room 209 and wait for your sensei."

Naruto looked over at his brother and nodded at him, he was upset that he wasn't on the same team as his brother/best friend and more than a little jealous that Sasuke would be apprenticed to such a prestigious ninja. EVERYONE knew the legendary Sannin and his accomplishments. He could only hope that his own jonin would be half of the ninja that Orochimaru was. Slightly down-trodden, Naruto was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard his own name. "Naruto Uzumaki, Ino Yamanaka, and Shikamaru Nara will be assigned to Kakashi Hatake. Report to room 212 and wait for your sensei.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Room 212

Naruto sat in the room the room he was directed to and looked at his teammates. To be completely honest he didn't know a whole lot about either of them. He didn't have a whole lot of friends outside of Sasuke and a few other of the children in the Uchiha compound. He knew that the Yamanaka was one of Sasuke's fan girls from the few run-ins he'd had with her but other than that not a whole lot. As for the Nara Naruto knew he was lazy, yet the way he talked and his grades in the academy hinted that there was more to him that met the eyes. Not to mention the fact that his father was one of the military advisors for the hokage and the villages shogi champion, perhaps there was a genius buried in there but only time would tell.

The door started to open and the three genin snapped their heads up. It had been almost an hour since they had arrived and they were more irritated. "Oh, you are all here already," said a silver-haired ninja. The ninja in question was holding a small book and had a slight blush on his face indicating the subject matter of said book. Naruto just snorted audibly. From what he could see so far he was not impressed. Putting the book away he cast an appraising look at the young ninja, "I'm not going to lie, I don't like you already." "Whaaaaaa? How can you say that?!" Naruto shouted heatedly, he would be damned if he was going to be insulted by this unpunctual pervert, "You're the one who's late, not to mention a pervert! I don't like you, not the other way around." The Blonde knucklehead was standing now pointing at the older ninja to emphasize his point. "Well," Kakashi replied, "the door is right behind me so feel free." He motioned to the door and moved out of the way catching Naruto off guard. "N-no I didn't mean that," said Naruto backpedaling. His new sensei might leave much to be desired, but Naruto had worked too hard to get here to walk out. "Yare yare," sighed an exasperated Nara, he thought the entire situation was troublesome.

"Hn… you're a spirited runt aren't you?" Kakashi remarked clearly antagonizing his new student, and it was no surprise when Naruto responded sputtering angrily. "Anyways, I am Kakashi Hatake and it would seem that I am your jonin sensei until such time I can send you back to the academy as will almost surely happen." "Wait, you aren't going to send us back to the academy, we passed the graduation exam!" exclaimed Ino. "Yes you did and I congratulate you all on such a meager accomplishment however, the final say of if you are ready," Explained the apparently irritated Jonin. "Anyways, you're true test will be tomorrow, and I wouldn't recommend eating breakfast unless you feel like tasting it twice. And with that he disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving the younger ninjas to their own devices.

"What a jerk!" Naruto exclaimed, "We'll show him and he wont be so ready to send us back to the academy when we're done with him!" "Damn right!" Ino agreed she had been more than put out by her new sensei's dismissive at them but she refused to be sent back to the academy, she'd be the laughing stock of this year's young kunzite and she would NEVER be able to face Sakura. "Hn," was all Shikamaru let out but inside he was just as annoyed as the others, he might be the laziest of the team but he hated being brushed aside like he was just some ordinary civilian child.

Unbeknownst to the team in room 212 a smiling Kakashi was sitting outside of the window listening in to the group. While they were a tad easy to provoke he was happy that the attempt to instill them with drive worked. He was looking forward to see what this team had to offered. Reaching into his butt-pouch he pulled out his favorite Icha Icha book and Shunshined to his favorite reading spot.

**And that's a wrap. A little shorter than I would have liked but seeing as it only took today I can't complain. Hopefully I can keep up the pace. I decided to keep the Bell test because it was something that I really did enjoy however it will be a re-write for sure. Orochimaru is not a nuke-nin! Whoooooo though who knows what the future holds… I will be trying to get the next chapter out sometime tomorrow. Please review and feel free to leave suggestions, the story is still formulating in my mind so good idea are definitely wanted and will definitely be taken into consideration for incorporation. See you all in the next installment of A King without His Crown.**


	3. Chapter 3

**And I'm back, sorry everyone but the past few weeks have been hectic and I needed some time to develop the story in my mind. Anyways here is the next chapter in my story.**

**Warning: Any younger readers I apologize as I will probably be changing the rating soon. Sorry**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**Chapter 2: The Bell Test**

It was 6 in the morning and Team 7 was assembled at Training ground 12 with the exception of one member, one crucial piece of the team was missing, and that one piece was… Still missing 3 and a half hours later.

"Are you kidding me!" Naruto exploded. He was the first to break the silence that he had been stewing in for the past 3 hours now. He was seriously annoyed with his new instructor and his patience had finally snapped. "Whaaaaa?" was Ino's response as she hadn't been able to fall asleep until late last night and was currently dozing off on the rock she was leaning on. Shikamaru just kept on watching the clouds from the patch of ground he was laying on. "How can you two be so passive?!" Naruto spat glaring at his teammates, "this is OUR time, for US and he's just wasting it! I don't know about you but I WANT to get better!"

"Jeez Naruto you're so serious," Ino retorted now fully awake after Naruto's tirade. "It's not like we can MAKE a jonin show up on time." "Well, I can sure as hell try!" Naruto turned his icy blue eyes to Ino and dared her to keep arguing with him. Ino harrumphed and turned her back to her fellow blonde, mumbling about how she should be on Sasuke's team instead of Forehead Girl. "Can't you two just shut up and calm down jeez," Shikamaru finally voiced his opinion and Naruto was seething at him, "Hey! Cool down Naruto, what I'm saying is he probably has his reason's so we just have to make due, train on your own instead of complaining." The young Nara laid back down slightly perturbed by his teammates temper but glad he diffused the tension overall. '_This is going to be such a troublesome team' _Shikamaru was thinking, he had hoped to be on a team with his best friend Choji but alas it couldn't happen. '_I had to get Sasuke's number 1 fan girl and his hot-head brother to boot… so damn troublesome.'_

"Yo!" said a silver-haired ninja walking up the trail from the village. Shikamaru sat up and looked at Kakashi with Ino both of them wondering how in the world he could be so nonchalant after being almost 4 hours late. "I'm sorry but there were some young women visiting the village and needed a tour guide, and as a gentlemen I couldn't refuse them." Kakashi had a perverted smile on his face, it was true that he spent a good part of his morning with two beautiful girls from the Land of Rice Paddies and he had plans to spend a good part of his night with both of them as well; however he really wanted to see what the temperment of his team was and had a clone watching them from the tree line since they first arrived.

Naruto however surprised everyone present and simply ignored everything that had transpired since his sensei showed up and continued his chakra control exercise that Itachi-niisan had showed him. He was currently suspending his kunai from all of his fingers on his right hand, he had to send a precise amount of chakra to every one of his fingers at a constant rate and was subsequently an excellent chakra control training method. In his personal training with both his older brothers and his adoptive father, both Fugaku and Itachi viewed Naruto as both a genius and an anomaly. He had not only absolutely massive chakra reserves for someone his age, he had surprisingly good control over it for his skill level. That coupled with Naruto and Sasuke's quick grasp and retention of all things ninja had given their family, the Uchiha clan, and the Sandaime Hokage very hopeful for these two boys futures.

"Narutooo! Pay attention! Sensei is here!" Ino yelled at her apparently oblivious teammate. "Whatever, he's been no help so far so I'd rather just train on my own until SENSEI has something important for us to learn," Naruto replied with his nose upturned, Kakashi had done nothing to earn his respect and wasn't about to get any if he had something to say about it. Naruto turned back to his training and looked at the kunai attached to his fingers, eyes widening when they weren't in his hand and instead were being held by the silver-haired Jonin. "Oh?" Kakashi commentend quietly, "something like this?" The Copy Ninja instantly threw all five kunai at the training ground's weapon target and proceeded to wrenching Naruto's wrist behind his head and immediately pushed down on the contorted limb of his pupil as he swept Naruto's feet from under him and plowing the genin chest-first in to the ground.

Naruto grimaced as his wind was knocked out of him and he tried unsuccessfully to look his sensei in the face as his head was being pinned down by said sensei's knee. Naruto could however see the weapon target with all five of his kunai buried into the bullseye. _'Whoa… This guy is crazy fast'_ was all that was going through Naruto's mind as he lay there. "That's what you get Baka!" Ino laughed as she blew a raspberry at Naruto. Shikamaru was watching the confrontation with interest but didn't comment. "You done with the attitude brat?" Kakashi asked without a care, he had already pulled out his book and was pinning Naruto with his weight, "because if you aren't, I have no problem with continuing my reading until you get the point." "No, no problem at all," was the muffled reply of our blonde hero. "Good, now go form up with your teammates."

Kakashi looked his team over, Naruto was still glaring daggers at him but he seemed to have earned some of the blonde's respect. _'Well I know how he learns now, it's too bad the Nara boy lacks the drive to compete with him.'_ He had observed Shikamaru's poor posture and lazy disposition and had almost written him off, however the way he handled his teammates earlier and his even head piqued Kakashi's interest in the boy. _'The girl might be an issue,' _He knew how a young girls mind worked and he had seen it numerous times where female genin were more interested in love than being a ninja. _'I hope she can grow as a kunzite before I have to take drastic measures.' _He liked the potential he was looking at, but the copy ninja wasn't sure how cohesive of a unit they would be and that was what the silver haired man valued in a team. _'Time to see what they've got.'_

"Alright, well… today I will be testing you overall skills as ninja," Kakashi stated blandly never taking his eyes off of his book, "To pass the test you must simply take these bells from my person. As you can see there are only two bells and three of you genin. Fail and you know what I can do to you already." Kakashi watched the expressions of his charges as he stated the parameters to the exercise. Anxiety clouded Ino's face just as quickly as anger filled Naruto's, what interested Kakashi however was the look of confusion the invaded Shikamaru's face before it was wiped away by the spark of understanding. _'Looks like we do have a little genius here, I wasn't expecting any of them to work it out right away.'_ Before either of the others, namely Naruto who was about to open his mouth, could interrupt Kakashi cut him off. "Those are the rules and they are final, now begin!" The genin team jumped back in what would be a blur to the untrained eye, but Kakashi was an elite jonin for a reason, he simply stood there waiting for the first move as he continued to read his book.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Underbrush, Training Ground 12

Team 7 was watching Kakashi from the foliage and the silver-haired jonin just stood there never taking his eyes off of his book. "I don't know about you two but I'm getting a bell, I refuse to go back to the academy!" Naruto hissed at the other two. Ino just looked like she was about to be sick, but Shikamaru was just shaking his head. _'Troublesome, they haven't realized it… hn I guess its up to me to pull them together.' _"Baka… none of us are going to fail. You're both missing the point." Naruto looked confused but Ino looked slightly relieved, "Shikamaru, what do you mean?" Ino asked a little timidly which was very uncharacteristic of her. _'Hn… never thought I'd see this side of the ever confident Ino Yamanaka.' _"He wants us to work as a team, you two really think that we would get sent back to the academy if we can't overpower an elite ninja?"

Shikamaru explained to his teammates. Ino looked reassured and was nodding in assent to the points that Shikamaru made, Naruto however was a different story. "But he said whoever doesn't get a bell fails and goes back to the academy," the blonde boy was reasoning back but was contemplating the issue in his mind. "Did he really say that?" Shikamaru was smirking as Naruto finally got it, "He simply implied that if whoever failed would be dropped and let our minds do the rest to split us up, but he wants to see if we can work together." Shikamaru was smiling now, he was an avid fan of battle strategy and the silver haired jonin had just given him the perfect opportunity to stretch his brain's legs. "This is what we are going to do…."

~~~~~~~~~~~~Center Field, Training Ground 12

Kakashi was absorbed in his book, he had resigned himself to the fact that the Nara boy had figured his little play on words and knew that he had a little time to enjoy his guilty pleasure, so he was quite surprised when Naruto came streaking out of the woods towards him with close to 20 other Narutos in tow. _'Guess I was wrong about them working together,' _Kakashi sighed, _'I was hoping that they wouldn't disappoint, well maybe next time.'_ "All alone Naruto?" the copy ninja asked lazily not even looking at the young ninja, "Well not counting your clones of course but I usually don't as they are usually little more than distractions. Well I'll play along anyways." Without missing a beat the jonin started weaving and dodging through the countless clones never even looking away from his book. He knew they hits couldn't hurt him as they were just normal clones but he wanted to drive the point home that no matter how hard the blonde ninja tried he wasn't taking on Kakashi 1-on-1 and coming out victorious. Something flickered in Kakashi's peripheral vision and he barely dodged the kunai knives that whizzed past his face. _'He might not get the point of the exercise but he does have talent,' _Kakashi was impressed that the blonde had forced his attention from his novel. _'Too bad you revealed you location with that throw kid,' _Kakashi smirked inwardly and decided to cut to the chase and stopped dodging mid-step. The clone who had been punching at the copy-ninja phased through his sensei and continued on its path. Kakashi's lip twitched before he twisted and started sprinting through the remaining clones towards the trees.

_**WHAM! **_Kakashi caught a knee to the stomach and a stiff elbow to his face and was slammed backwards through the air eyes widening. _'He was with the clones all along?! Then who…' _Kakashi kept the momentum going and back flipped through the air and scanned the tree line. He spotted Ino on a tree branch, hand on her hip and a grin plastered to her face. _'Damn I underestimated them, but then where is…" _Kakashi was searching for Shikamaru when he saw a shadow streaking out of the bushes and was heading to the point where the copy ninja was about to land. _'Damnit! Not enough time. I can't believe they are pushing me as much as they are!' _Kakashi ripped through a few hand signs and then landed. "Shadow Possesion is a success," Shikamaru said lazily as he walked through the underbrush. "Time to finish this and get those bells," Shikamaru reached across his body to grab the bells off the jonin's waist.

Kakashi sat in the trees watching the events unfold. He was amazed that this group of just out of the academy genin forced him to have to substitute with his clone. He was pleased with their implementation of low level techniques, to him it was all about mastery. It doesn't matter if you have the most powerful technique in the world if you are ill-suited to use it or aren't smart enough to implement it in battle. These children were showing a substantial amount of knowledge of how to cover each others weaknesses and how to maneuver an opponent in to each others attacks. Lost in his thoughts, Kakashi barely registered when a kunai thrown by his own clone was flying towards his hiding spot. _'What?! How did they spot my substitution, it was flawless!' _Kakashi was sputtering in his mind but his body seemed to move on its own as muscle memory kicked in and he dodged the blade that barely nicked his left thigh. The Nara dispersed the clone by making it stab itself in the chest before forming a single hand seal and smirking.

"Ssssssssssssssss," was all Kakashi heard before the explosive tag exploded blocking his path of escape and blowing him back into the clearing. _'How far ahead did they plan,' _the silver haired jonin was thinking as he twisted in mid-air, landed for the second time that day in the middle of a large group of orange-clad blonde haired ninja and all of them were grinning foxily at him. "So… which one of you is the real one?" The Naruto clones just stood there with the same witty grin on his face. _'They've more than exceeded my expectaions let's see how far they can go,' _Kakashi raised his hand to reveal his trump card when one of the Naruto clones stepped forward._ 'What's this?' _Kakashi wondered right before he got his answer. "None of us are the real one," the clone's 'spokeperson' revealed as others in the horde of underage ninja blew raspberries and made rude gestures to the copy ninja as a few strategically placed clones activated the explosive tags on their body and exploded dispersing the horde and blasted their sensei out of the crowd.

'_Damn! I keep going along with them I might get seriously injured, I'm lucky that last blast didn't kill me as it is. If I hadn't had the half-second of warning I did I would have been a goner' _Kakashi was reprimanding himself when he saw another kunai flying towards his head, _'Damn I forgot about her! No time to dodge it, going to have to block!' _Kakashi whipped a kunai of his own and deflected Ino's just as he saw Naruto speed up next to him and slash at his face. _'Jeez this is a tenacious bunch,' _the silver haired ninja sweat dropped inwardly for letting himself get into this situation. Kakashi readied his kunai to block the slash that was coming towards his face when Naruto flipped the kunai and flung it underhandedly at the older ninja. _'A feint?'_ Kakashi's eyes widened when the kunai whipped past his waist and sliced the strings connecting the bells to his pantloop. _'They actually did it,' _thought an incredulous Kakashi as he landed in a low crouch and stood up slowly.

Naruto was grinning as he held out the bells to taunt Kakashi, "So… are we all headed back to the academy now?" Shikamaru sauntered up next to the grinning blonde with a smirk on his face. Ino jumped from her perch and landed on the other side of Naruto and regarded their now smiling teacher, "Bet you weren't expecting that were you sensei?" The blonde girl had the biggest smile of them all. They accomplished their mission as team and not only that, but she had a solid role in it as well, she wasn't a hindrance like she was afraid she would be. Naruto, in a rare moment of perception, noticed that the anxiety that Ino was in earlier had vanished and decided to pound it home for her. Nudging the blonde girl next to him, he looked her in the eyes and grinned, "Couldn't have done it without you Ino-chaaaan!" he added with a little wink. "Shut up Naruto-baka!," Ino replied heatedly and smacked him in the head a deep blush spreading across her face. She couldn't hide the smile on her face and the warmth in her chest when she turned away, _'What in the world was that? And why was Naruto so nice to me? Watching him fight today was pretty awesome! He looked so cool when he snatched those bells from Kakashi-sensei, so strong, and confident, and w-wait what am I saying? I'm talking about Naruto here, though he isssss pretty cute with his blonde hair and blue eyes… wait, no what am I saying, ughhhhh I don't know what is happening to me.' _

Kakashi looked at his official new team and smiled, they had far surpassed his expectations and he was more than interested in the growth of his new pupils as they had shown some considerable skill. "I can say I wasn't expecting that at all," Kakashi admitted, "but I was hopeful that you all could come together which you did with aplomb. I am quite surprised at the depth of the strategy put in place." "You can thank Shikamaru for that!" Naruto exclaimed smile on his face as he scratched the back of his head. "Ne, Naruto," Shikamaru interjected, "The plan was only possible because of the skills we had as a team and the fact that we managed to surprise out sensei. Don't give me more credit than I deserve, I don't want people interrupting my free time looking for help."

"Well regardless, you passed with flying colors. We are going to meet up tomorrow in front of the Hokage Building and we will get our first mission as a team! The rest of the day is yours, Ja Ne," Kakashi smiled at his team one last time before he disappeared in a puff of smoke. "He just HAS to look cool doesn't he?" Naruto sighed, "Anyways what are you two about to do?" "I'm going to see what Choji is up too," Shikamaru replied lazily as he slunk off towards the village. "What about you Ino?" Naruto looked over towards his blonde teammate who was about to walk off. "Why do you want to know Naruto-baka? You trying to see if I'm available?" Ino responded suggestively as she turned and looked at him her deep teal eyes as she licked her lips seductively. "W-w-what? Wait n-no! That's not what I wanted at all!" Naruto was backpedaling mentally wondering what he could've done for Ino to be acting like this. Ino's smile froze on her face and her eyes darkened as she stared at her teammate. "You wouldn't want to ask me out hmmm?" Her tone seemed light but there was a chilly edge to her words that frightened Naruto as he continued to sputter out his defense. "You don't think I'm pretty enough for you to take out?" "N-no, I mean yes, or-or no? I'm not really sure what you want me to say Ino," Naruto answered looking around franticly for someone to help him out of his predicament.

"Just kidding Naruto-baka," Ino winked at Naruto before she walked off, "See you later baka." Naruto just stood there stunned at the events that just happened and watched Ino walk off. _'What in the world was that about? Ugh… I'll never get women'_ the blonde sighed as he started walking to the village, he had a some pocket change and decided to go and eat at his favorite ramen stand. He had listened to Kakashi and didn't eat the night before and needles to say he was ravenous.

~~~~~~~~~~~Ichiraku's

"OH! Look at the mighty ninja come to get his fill of ramen," Teuchi laughed when Naruto showed up at his stand. He enjoyed having the blonde around, Naruto had a way of making your day that much more enjoyable and it didn't hurt that the boy would buy mountains ramen every time he came by. "I just hope you have enough because I'm starving!" Naruto responded exuberantly, "I'll take 3 bowls of miso ramen and 3 bowls of beef ramen and that's just a start!"

Naruto was sitting at the counter with a bored expression on his face, this was his least favorite thing, waiting for the ramen to cook. He was looking off down the road when he saw a familiar face coming towards him. Sasuke was walking down the road with a taller man with pale skin and dull stringy hair that just that hung limply around his head band. "Sasuke!" Naruto yelled to get his brother's attention. Sasuke's head snapped up and saw his brother and waved back. He said something to the man he was with and nodded before they both headed towards Naruto.

"Hey Sasuke, who's this guy?" Naruto asked obliviously. "Oh, you don't know who I am Naruto-kun? I'm hurt, and to think I worked so hard to gain recognition," the mysterious man retorted. Naruto snorted indignantly as he looked away from the bowl of ramen he was stuffing his face with and turned to face the man with a mouthful of ramen and found himself looking into a pair of snake-like eyes and in an exceptionally awkward situation as he realized who he was talking to. He swallowed his ramen a little faster than he should have in his haste and started choking. The man looked at the blonde boy next to him with a look of exasperation and started to hit him on the back and dislodged the ramen that was choking the boy. When Naruto stopped coughing the man smiled at him lightly, "Naruto-kun its been a while since we've met."

"Lord Orochimaru, I'm sorry for not realizing it was you earlier." "Not at all Naruto-kun you seemed quite occupied with your meal, I guess you had a hard day of training?" "Yes sir, Kakashi-sensei is a slave driver with his excercises, not to mention he told us not to eat breakfast…" Naruto answered with a scowl, still irked by his sensei's trick. "Hahahaha, ah Kakashi Hatake, you know I remember when he was a genin, and one memory in particular sticks out in particular," Orochimaru was chuckling lightly as he reminisced about the old days when he was a younger man. "A-and what is that memory, if you don't mind telling of course," Naruto asked trying to be as respectful as possible to the legendary serpent ninja. Naruto and Sasuke had been waiting with bated breath to hear Orochimaru's story.

"No, no, not at all," Orochimaru was still chuckling though more at how embarrassed Kakashi was going to be when his student repeated this story on a mission or during training. "Well… when Kakashi was a genin his team went on a C-rank mission that required obtaining intel from a beautiful young geisha being used as a courier. Kakashi had orders to seduce said Geisha and replace the files in dossier with falsified documents. Young Hatake was quite enthused about the mission and was doing quite well and things were getting hot and heavy with the mark," Orochimaru winked at the boys letting them know exactly where the story was going and laughed before he went on. "Anyways Kakashi was getting ready press forward with his seduction when it was all too **physically** revealed that his mark was in fact a man with a different 'orientation' than himself." Orochimaru was chortling lightly but the boys were a different story. Sasuke was holding his stomach laughing and Naruto started choking on his ramen again.

"Well that's enough reminiscing for me," Orochimaru said, a smirk still playing at the corner of his mouth. "I trust you both can find your way home?" "Yes Orochimaru-sensei," Sasuke replied, "See you tomorrow morning for training." "Bright and early Sasuke-kun, and I'm sure I'll see you before too long Naruto, ja ne," The legendary ninja waved as he walked off before shunshining away. "Man you're sensei is so cool!" Naruto exclaimed, "I mean Kakashi sensei is cool but Lord Orochimaru is on a whole other level." "True," Naruto's brother/best friend responded, "He's crazy though. Not bad crazy but still crazy." "Hmmm… so how was your test?" Naruto asked his brother only to have Sasuke give him a confused look, "What do you mean test? Orochimaru sensei just had us do stamina excercises and then worked with us one on one to test our skills and weaknesses. He's a great teacher though. Did you guys have to take a test?" "Nope, apparently not," Naruto glowered as he looked into his last bowl of ramen. "Well whatever, anyways hurry up. Itachi said that as he'd be home for the day when he was done with his briefings and agreed to help us train. "Well why didn't you say so baka?" Naruto ribbed Sasuke as he paid for his meal, "See you later old man! I've got training to do!" Naruto looked over to his brother, "First one home wins?" Sasuke's nod was all Naruto needed as the two of them sped off towards the Uchiha Compound.

**So what did you think? Sorry for everyone that was waiting that this took as long as it did, I'll try and make future chapters a little faster. Anyways please review if you have any comments or just to show support. It goes a long was for motivation.**

**Until next time Ja Ne!**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 3: Vitamin D-Rank

It was six in the morning and Team 7 was congregated in front of the Hokage's Tower waiting for their sharingan wielding sensei to show up. "Ugh… he's not going to be on time is he," an exasperated Naruto sighed, " I mean really, here we are, amazing ninjas waiting about to do our first mission that is probably super important for the village and our sensei is late!" "Hn… I just wish I slept in more if he planned on being late again," commented Shikamaru as he leaned against the building. Ino was lost in thought wondering how if she and her team completed an important or difficult mission she might finally win Sasuke's heart. She was tempted to broach the subject with her teammates, but seeing as one of them was the object of her affections brother she decided to leave it alone and save herself the embarrassment that would surely follow. Resigning himself to his fate of waiting for his teacher he reminisced about the previous afternoon and what Itachi had showed both of the younger boys.

/Flashback/ Uchiha training grounds

Naruto and Sasuke watched their older brother as he set up various targets in the wooded part of training grounds wondering what he was going to show them. The boys watched with bated breath as they waited to see what their brother did next. Walking slowly to center of all the targets, some of which were obscured from his line of sight by either trees or mounds of earth, he smirked slightly already envisioning how the two of them would react after seeing what came next. Leaping into the air, Itachi appeared about fifteen feet above them and was in mid flip and completely inverted when he pulled out two handfuls of kunai before flinging half of them with blinding speed. Time seemed to slow down for two young boys as they watched with awe-struck faces as the seemingly improperly aimed knives where slammed into by a second volley of kunai, ricocheting off of each other before burying themselves in all of the targets. Itachi landed on the ground on one knee, eyes still closed.

"That… was… SO COOL!" the blonde genin exploded and proceeded to launch a million and a half questions at his older brother, with Sasuke doing the same. Itachi just laughed lightly as he observed his siblings antics before he explained the mechanics of the technique. "But why did you close your eyes? I mean I get the idea of knocking them off of each other to hit the hard to get places, but why close your eyes?" Naruto asked confused. Sasuke inwardly thanked his adopted brother for his never ending stream of questions as he was wondering the same thing, but didn't want admit that he didn't get it. "Well, you can't rely on your eyes for everything, and if you are so focused on watching the kunai to try and make them hit you aren't focusing on the throw itself," Itachi explained calmly, "It's all about KNOWING where your targets are. If you know exactly where your throws have to go you don't need to see to hit your target." "That's right," Sasuke agreed with his brother smugly. "Baka! You didn't know either!" Naruto responded indignantly.

Laughing at the two he took them to the kunai posts and showed them exercises to increase their ability hit their targets without sight. Sitting back he watched the boys with blindfolds on taking turns throwing at the post and shaking his head with a smile on his face as he watched them miss every throw. "You have to see it in your head," Itachi threw out off-handedly as he pulled out an orange book he had received for his last birthday by his ex-ANBU captain.

/Flashback end/

Smiling to himself as he remembered how both he and Sasuke began to get better at hitting their targets without being able to see them, he was pulled out of his thoughts by Ino. "What are you so happy about _Naru-Chan?" _Ino asked smirking at the blonde boy who glared back at her. "Nothing that concerns you Ino-BUTA," Naruto responded coldly to Ino. He remembered the conversation the two of them had a day before and was still pretty miffed with her. "What did you just call me?" Ino asked Naruto in a voice so cold it could flash freeze on of Itachi's Grand Fireballs. "You heard me Ino-pig, or do I have to say it in your language?" Naruto replied and then further antagonized his teammate by making oinking noises at her before she responded by smacking him in the back of the head hard enough to put him face first on the ground. Still fuming at him she heard Shikamaru mumble something about 'troublesome blondes' before she rounded on him to give him a piece of her mind.

"Yo!" Kakashi called out to his students as he saw Ino tearing into Shikamaru who had a slightly apprehensive look on his face and saw Naruto on the ground with a sizeable lump on his head. _'Jeez, and I thought Naruto was the hot head of the group,' _the copy ninja thought to himself as he put his smutty book away. Springing up from the ground, Naruto regarded his sensei ready to get this mission going. "So Kakashi-sensei, are we gonna do some super cool mission today?" Naruto questioned his sensei. "Oh yes, the most important, it's so important that the Hokage himself is going to assign it to us," Kakashi responded with an only a tinge of sarcasm that the blonde boy clearly missed. "Oh boy! I totally bet Old Man Hokage has heard how much I've been training and wants to give me a chance to prove myself!"

Hokage Tower, Daily Mission Assignment Notification room (D.A.M.N. Room)

Team 7 was currently assembled in front of the Hokage as well as two Chunin that were handling the paperwork. "Team 7 led by Hatake Kakashi reporting for duty," Kakashi stated to the aging man in front of him. "Ah! Team 7, ready to begin missions I see." Hiruzen stated while eyeing over the genin. "Lay it on me Old Man! What do you need my amazing ninja skills for today? A princess that needs to be rescued, or let me guess… a foreign dictator that needs to be removed," Naruto offered some ideas of what was needed of him. Hiruzen chuckled lightly at the enthusiastic genin he was so fond of. "You are very close young man, while it isn't a dictator that needs to be removed, it is a very large amount of dog excrement that needs to be removed from the Inuzuka kennels." "Of course, you can count on my amazing shinobi skills to complete… wait YOU WANT ME TO CLEAN UP DOG POO?!" Naruto shouted pointing at the Hokage. "Why yes young Naruto, that is exactly what I want to do. Be careful though, I have heard that those kennels are quite formidable, I don't want you stepping on any landmines," the Hokage replied cryptically. "Landmines? Why would the Inuzuza put landmines in their dog ken- OH GROSS! I JUST GOT THESE SANDALS!" Turning to his sensei with a betrayed look, "You said that it was an important mission!" "It is Naruto, it's vital to the village. When I was a genin I had to do the same kind of missions," Kakashi stated with his trademark eye smile.

Remembering another story from when Kakashi was a genin, Naruto turned his frown upside down confusing everyone in the room with his attitude's 180. "I guess you are right sensei, it could be worse," Naruto told the silver haired ninja. Kakashi had long since learned not to look a gift horse in the mouth and took his pupil's change of heart as a blessing, "That's right Naruto it could be worse." "Yeah, I mean at least we aren't going on some kind of Information gathering mission," Naruto said while looking deviously at his sensei getting confused looks from both his teammates and the chunin. "Where we might have to get information from a geisha that had more than just secret document as a surprise," Naruto continued while Kakashi paled, "You know Kakashi sensei? The kind of surprise that is HARD to take." Kakashi instantly covered the young boys mouth before giving the Hokage an impromptu salute before dragging the blonde boy out of the room with Ino and Shikamaru in tow. The team could hear the raucous laughter of the Hokage all the way until they left the building.

**So that's the next chapter, I know it's short but it was meant more as a filler. Please review and I will be attempting to pump out a few more chapters out while I have a few days of nothing to do.**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 4: Near-Death Experience

D.A.M.N Room 3 weeks after cleaning the Inuzuka Kennels

"Come on! Another D-Rank?" Naruto burst indignantly at the wizened Hokage seated before him, "We've been at this FOREVER! I'm never going to get any better if all I do is walk dogs or babysit kids." Shikamaru and Ino, while not nearly as verbose as their brazen counterpart couldn't help but agree. "Well, I suppose that I COULD send you out for a C-Rank, but it really depends on if Kakashi thinks you are ready for it," Sarutobi replied looking over to the silver-haired ninja. "Well, I don't know," replied Kakashi, knowingly baiting his students. "Hey! You can it unless you want everyone in the village to know what was in that PACKAGE you had to grab when you went on a C-Rank!" Naruto threatened his sensei while Shikamaru and Ino sniggered in the background. "Yep, they're ready," corrected a sweat dropping Kakashi who knew that he would never live that story down without a large amount of embarrassment on his part.

Chuckling lightly at the situation that Kakashi found himself in, Hiruzen handed the essential paperwork for the mission to the chunin seated next to him. Turning towards the door he called out, "Mr. Tazuna, you can come in now." In response a door off to the side opened revealing a rather haggard man with a straw hat and a gourd full of sake. Looking to the group of ninja in front of him and back to the Hokage he couldn't help but worry for his well-being. "You mean that I am going to be guarded by these brats?" Naruto was about to speak his mind when he was cut off by the aging Kage. "Yes of course," Hiruzen stated calmly, "You requested an escort to your home in Nami no Kuni and based on the parameters you gave us, we ranked it accordingly. This team should be able to do just fine. However, if you require more seasoned ninja, I could have that arranged for you; for a substantial increase in price of course." Deciding to keep his opinions to himself, Tazuna simply shook his head.

Addressing the team in front of him, Hiruzen told them that they would be leaving early the next morning. "Wait, so we aren't leaving today?" Naruto asked. "No, no, you have tonight to notify your parents that you will be leaving the village and prepare yourselves," Hiruzen responded smiling at the blondes enthusiasm, "You will all be meeting at the main gate at 10 tomorrow morning. Understood?" He was given a resounding 'Hai, Hokage-Sama' from the ninja assembled in front of him and what sounded like 'You got it Old Man' from Naruto. Smiling and shaking his head he dismissed them.

Uchiha Compound, Kitchen of Mikoto Uchiha

Sitting around the table and enjoying a rather splendid meal of chicken bulgolgi, The Uchiha family was winding day after another day. Mikoto and Fugaku were in conversation about the ever changing politics of the Uchiha Clan. Itachi was currently talking to Naruto about the nuances of elemental change of chakra natures, as early that day he had given his younger sibling a piece of chakra conductive paper that had dampened the second Naruto touched it. He promised to teach him some of the beginner's water style techniques. Sasuke, who was on his own C-Ranked mission with his team, was missing out on the delicious meal.

"Mmmm! That was delicious Kaa-chan!" stated a beaming Naruto. He knew Mikoto wasn't his mother, but he could never bring himself to call the loving woman who had raised him anything else. "Well thank you Naruto-kun," Mikoto responded with a warm smile as she got up from the table to do the dishes, "Bring your plate to the sink and then go to the living room, I believe your father wants to speak with you." Doing as she said, Naruto proceeded to walk in to the family's living area. "Come here boy," Fugaku said from the couch he was sitting on smoking his evening cigar. "You requested my presence Fugaku-san?" asked Naruto rhetorically. A shadow passed over Fugaku's face at the way Naruto addressed him. He knew that Naruto loved him like a father and he cared for the boy a great deal, but ever since finding out that he was in fact adopted and the clan elders refusal to allow him to sit in on the clan council meetings along with Sasuke, Naruto had been more stiff with him than before. "Naruto, I know we haven't been as close lately, but I want you to know that I am so proud of you, not only as a father, but s a fellow leaf shinobi," Fugaku was looking at the blonde boy who had confusion in his eyes, but at the same time, happiness was there as well. "As you know, Uchiha are not considered men, or shinobi until they undertake their first true mission by putting their life on the line to support the village that we call home. As such, it is only fitting that on that mission that you represent the Uchiha in full. You may be Uzumaki Naruto, but to me you will always be a true Uchiha, and you will always be my son," as Fugaku said this, he could see the emotion behind the boy's calm façade and he proceeded to pull out a package wrapped in brown paper and handed it to his son.

Opening the gift that was given to him, he saw a brand new, high quality set of Kunai and shuriken, a sealing scroll and ultra-durable ninja wire. What caught his eye however, was the dark blue Uchiha shinobi was top with the Uchiha clan crest emblazoned on the back of the high collar. The shirt was meant to be worn with the front open* and was loosely fitted to his body to provide maximum mobility, but was not baggy enough to get caught on every piece of foliage that he came across. Under that was a new pair of standard black shinobi pants. "Thank you tou-san!" Naruto shouted while wrapping his father in a bone-breaking hug. "You are very welcome son," Fugaku said back, a smile on his face as he embraced his son.

***Footnote: The shirt looks like Sasuke's from the beginning of shippuden and is the color of Sasuke's blue outfit from part 1.**

Konoha's main gate, 10 the next day

Walking to the Main Gate, Naruto was raring to get his mission started. He was determined to do his absolute best and hoped that he would have a chance to prove that he was worthy of his father's and clan's recognition. As he walked up to the rendezvous point for his team, he saw that only Ino was there. "I should have figured Shikamaru and Kakashi-sensei would be late," Naruto called out to her. Pulled out of her thoughts, Ino looked over to the approaching Naruto, her eyes widening slightly as she took in his new appearance. "Oh, hi Naruto! Did you really expect them to be on time?" smiling at the blonde boy. _'Wow, he sure looks good when he isn't wearing that ridiculous orange jumpsuit, He might even be as cute as sasuke," _thought Ino with a slight blush on her face.

Looking him over as he approached she couldn't help but wondered what caused the change in his dress. "Like the new outfit?" Asked Naruto seeing that Ino was gawking slightly, "It's not as good as a jumpsuit, but Itachi-nii told me that the Uchiha don't have any. Or anything orange for that matter." Seeing the pout on his face as he said this Ino thought that it was the cutest thing ever but couldn't help laughing at the fact that some things just don't change.

"You two Kakashi's genin?" called out a voice from the guard shack across the road. "Yeah, what's it to you?" Naruto responded turning to see the two chunin leaning back in their chairs. "Oh nothing, we just heard that he never passes anyone so we were curious about you," the chunin with spiky black hair and a bandage running across his face responded. "Oh, who is your sensei?" Naruto asked looking at the two as they just grinned at each other. "Sensei? We don't have one kid. See the vest? The two of us are Chunin, important ninja that don't need a sensei," the chunin wearing the skull cap responded. "Oh yeah? Then why are you just gate guards if you're so important?" Naruto shot back innocently. "Hey! Being a gate guard is an important job!" the gate guard shouted back leaning over the counter. "Ah stop letting this kid get to you Izumo, he's right anyways, this detail sucks," Izumo's partner said laughing at his friend.

"Yo!," came the familiar voice of Kakashi from up the road with Shikamaru and Tazuna trailing behind him, "I see you met Izumo and Kotetsu, I hope he hasn't given you any trouble," Kakashi added to the two chunin. "Nah, nothing we can't handle," Kotetsu responded laughing at the still scowling Izumo. "Wow, sensei! You aren't as late as usual," Naruto commented causing Kakahsi to give him his best eye-smile. "Well I knew that you would want to get a move on, besides I finished my book." _'YES! He's done with that pervy book, now he can focus on training me to be a super strong ninja!,'_ Naruto thought elatedly, stars in his eyes as he turned to the famed copy-ninja. "So I picked up the next book before I showed up," Kakashi continued pulling out a book with a green cover titled 'Icha Icha Tactics', "It's supposed to be super steamy and even has bonus content, so it should hold me over for quite a while!" As the silver haired ninja started reading a blush already forming on the visible parts of his face, Naruto sweat dropped as he realized he got ahead of himself and conceded the point to the Universe.

Hi no Kuni, Road to Nami no Kuni, 4 days later

Kakashi had called for a break on the side of the road and called his genin over to him as they refreshed themselves. "I wonder if those ninja seriously think we would fall for that witless ambush," Shikamaru said quietly to the group. Kakashi couldn't help but agree and was about to elaborate on the situation before Naruto cut in, "What are you talking about Shikamaru?" "Quiet down, baka," the lazy ninja hissed at the blonde boy, "Don't look, but there is a puddle in the middle of the road up ahead." Naruto was clearly still confused as he scratched his neck, "So? It's a puddle, what is it going to do to us?" _'I stand corrected, he would have walked right into that one,'_ Shikamaru thought as he shook his head.

"That's the point Naruto," Kakashi explained, "It hasn't rained in weeks, so it stands to reason that there are ninja hiding in that puddle." "Whoa, people can do that? That's so cool!" Naruto said in his exuberant manner. "Yes, it's actually a fairly simple technique if you have an affinity for water," Kakashi answered with a sweat drop wondering what exactly they taught at the academy these days. "Really? I have a water affinity, Itachi-nii told me so! Can you show me how to do it sensei?" Naruto asked now thoroughly excited. "Sure, later but we have more pressing matters at the moment don't you think?" Kakashi responded amazed at how quick new jutsu overrides everything else for his young charge.

"Like what? Oh… wait, enemy ninjas, yeah… almost forgot about them," Naruto said sheepishly. The rest of the group just shook their head at the antics of their teammate. "All right, we need to uncover who their target is so roll with it until we know then counterattack, HARD. This is no time for mercy. Understood?" Kakashi looked at the faces of his students, he saw a steely resolve in the eyes of Shikamaru and determination tinged with nervousness from Ino. Naruto was a surprise however; Kakashi had been expecting some enthusiasm, fear, or anything. The look on the blonde boys face was a mask. His features could have been carved out of marble and the spark of light that was almost always present in his blue eyes was gone. Looking into Naruto's eyes it felt like he was looking into a blue abyss, eyes he hadn't looked into in over 12 years. Recognition tugged that the copy ninja's mind but he couldn't place where but he couldn't help being slightly unnerved at the usually upbeat blonde's emotionless face. _'Jeez, what are they feeding the Uchiha kids these days? Obito was never that controlled, it's like he is a whole different person,'_ Kakashi thought to himself.

"Mr. Tazuna, we are moving out, I must ask that you position yourself in the center of our formation for your protection," Kakashi instructed calmly. Looking confused in the change of attitude from the beginning of the but not willing to question the jounin's judgment got in between Shikamaru and Ino. With Naruto at point and himself at the rear, Kakashi called out to the group to move out. The group made their way down the road and when coming upon the suspicious puddle, all of them ignored it continuing on as if it didn't bother them at all.

When the group had passed them completely, the Demon Brothers Gozou and Meizu decided to act, melding out of the water on the ground as silently as the man who taught them. Flashing forward they had Kakashi bound in the bladed chain that connected their gauntlet before they pulled themselves apart slicing Kakashi in three pieces. Ino, not expecting such a violent entrance from their attackers missed the set of hand seals that Kakashi had discreetly flashed through before he was caught, was frozen with fear before she snapped herself out of it and positioned herself in front of Tazuna.

Ignoring both Naruto and Shikamaru, Gozou streaked towards Ino planning on tearing through her on his way to the mark while Meizu began encircling the group. Shikamaru torn for a second between which comrade to save with his shadow hesitated just before sending it flying to the black clad man about to rip into Ino. _'SHIT! I'm not fast enough! NO!'_ was the only thought passing through his head. Shikamaru was freaking out as he saw both of his teammates inches away from being eviscerated. In that moment Shikamaru closed his eyes not wanting to see what was going to happen next, but all he heard was a shriek of metal piercing metal, a gurgle and and enraged yell that he didn't recognize screaming words he could not comprehend. "NO! GOZOU! I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" An anguished yell ripped from Meizu.

Opening his eyes daring to look and see the situation in front of him, he saw Naruto, face impassive and eyes closed interposed between a clearly shell-shocked Ino and a wide-eyed and surprised Gozou. Tearing his kunai out of Gozou's windpipe, he whipped around ready to meet the enraged Meizu head-on. Before Naruto could pass the sentence of death he had laid on Gozou to Meizu as well Kakashi came tearing out of the tree line plowing in to the opposing ninja like a wrecking ball, slamming the remaining Demon Brother's face directly into the groundand restraining him.

Getting off the ground he looked over to Naruto who was simply standing in the center of the trail, with blood dripping off of the knife in his hand and an expressionless face. Kakashi walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "It's okay Naruto, it's over now. I'll take over from here." Naruto simply dropped the kunai and fell back on his butt and just sat there. Emotion flooding his face as he sat there, Kakashi saw it on his face, flashes of anger, fear, revulsion, and excitement. Concluding that he would talk to him one on one later, Kakashi turned to everyone else. Shikamaru was calming down a hyperventilating Ino while Tazuna simply looked absolutely flabbergasted at everything he just saw.

Giving a stern look to the Bridge-builder that conveyed the simple message of 'I have words for you when I'm done with this' sent a shiver down Tazuna's back. Walking over to Meizu and grabbing him by the back of the neck and dragged him into the woods.

Forest of Hi no Kuni

"Hey, wake up," said Kakashi calmly smacking Meizu to wake him up. Eyes fluttering open the Demon Brother took a moment to take in his surroundings. When his vision finally melded together and he saw Kakashi standing in front of him he instantly began to struggle against his bindings. "Give it up, you aren't going anywhere. You are going to answer a few questions for me," Kakashi stated calmly. "Like hell I will, Konoha bastard!" Meizu spat back before receiving a stinging slap from Kakashi. "Why are you targeting Tazuna? Who hired you?" Kakashi asked as calm as ever. "Wouldn't you like to know," replied Meizu with an insolent smile on his face. "You can tell me or I can tear it out of you," Kakashi threatened, steel entering his voice. "I'd like to see you try," Meizu stated darkly before biting down and severing his tongue. _'Shit! I don't have the equipment to stop him from bleeding out,' _Kakashi thought before simply kicking the man over on his side and let him bleed out as he walked back to his team.

Back with Team 7

Shikamaru was finally getting Ino to calm down when he felt someone standing over him. Looking up he saw Naruto standing in front of them. "Is she okay?" Naruto asked him in a strained voice. Simply nodding in return, Shikamaru watched as Naruto dropped to his knees in front of Ino. As he did this Ino finally looked up and saw the blonde in front her and launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around Naruto's neck crying profusely and saying 'Thank you' repeatedly. Naruto wasn't sure how to respond so he simply put his arm around her and held his female teammate and did his best to comfort her as she cried into his shoulder.

Shikamaru got to his feet just as Kakashi was returning to the group, minus Meizu and went to talk to his sensei. "How are they?" the silver haired jonin questioned. "They are both pretty shook up, Ino more so than Naruto but they will be fine," Shikamaru mumbled back. "And you?" Kakashi asked concerned about the boy standing in front of him. "I'll be fine… I just… never want something like that to happen again. I honestly thought they were both going to die," Shikamaru replied groggily as he swallowed the lump in his throat. Putting his hand on the young Nara to console him; Kakashi said, "I can't promise that something like this will never happen again, but I DO promise to give you the tools to deal with it if it does happen again." Shikamaru just nodded in return. "We need to talk. NOW," Kakashi said to Tazuna who paled slightly and followed the jonin to the treeline to discuss his immediate future.

**And that's it. Next will be the arrival in Wave and the showdown with Zabuza. Will Team 7 come out unscathed or will there be casualties?**

**Review no matter the opinion it counts to me and goes a long way as far as motivation!**

**Ja Ne!**


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